Questions Seeking Answers

Does the same God hit you as a great unknown ... given what we know of this character ... a strange personality!

Luce NDs said:

God doesn't act because like Captain Cook ... he was too far from homme ...

Such distances form Gods ... white splotches in the sky ... last resort ... be creative and artistic when painting the overhead ...

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Creativity, Luce, echoes God's voice. We paint overhead because we're the ultimate Artist's image-bearers.

The irony's that Christianity claims a distant deity's opposite, the infinite God crossed the greatest distance imaginable and came near in Christ. The heavens, Luce, are evidence that God's imagination's bigger than mine.

Jaebius said:

If God is fair and loving, why are some people born into wealth, health, and opportunity while others are born into poverty, disability, or hardship?

Believe God works through hardships in ways we can't see at the time.

I don't pretend to know why God ordains different paths for different people.

What I do know's that His love's not measured by wealth. Health! SOCIAL STATUS!

The greatest gift He offers's Himself through Christ. That gift's available to both the rich and the poor. The strong and the weak!

For me, the answer's that God is still good, even when life isn't

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Do such scientific observations indicate maybe an alter god? Diabolical concept for those hating concepts as too close to thoughtfulness ...

Then with all the politicians making thoughtless commentary ... and being the elect ... is that chaos or just more elite-like? Maybe we just shouldn't think about such distasteful topics and how to eventually escape the distaste ... thus the mind goes ... soul-drift?

Co operation was never a possibility ... thus God is beyond mortality!

Luce NDs said:

Just look at how some emperors and kings draw on questionable believers to carry out the foul work to get pardons!

Makes me reflect on Gabriel, Johnathan, Michael and the unknown one as unified out there ... die Anna! A vast essence ...

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Am humbled, Luce, by that none of us are the GOOD GUYS apart from grace. God's never trapped by human manipulation. What people intend for evil, He weaves into His larger story.

I find comfort in Christ, who reigns over every power, visible and invisible.

Chaos, intrigue and COMPROMIZED LOYALTY's under the providential hand of a King who can't be outmaneuvered. That, Luce, is both sobering and strangely hopeful

Jaebius said:

Am humbled, Luce, by that none of us are the GOOD GUYS apart from grace. God's never trapped by human manipulation. What people intend for evil, He weaves into His larger story.

I find comfort in Christ, who reigns over every power, visible and invisible.

Chaos, intrigue and COMPROMIZED LOYALTY's under the providential hand of a King who can't be outmaneuvered. That, Luce, is both sobering and strangely hopeful

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Then there was the corruption surrounding the term filioque ... which is nothing but a question of why that young spirit of the ephemeral? Then explain to me how so many take a firm position when we don 'ave a clue ... I admit it but alas consider those about to jump upon me ...

Luce NDs said:

If sin is broken and left here ... where do the better enlightened portions drift off to ...

Expect POTUS to pardon! That's dicey ... bad parse?

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The plot twist, Luce, is that none of the ENLIGHTENED PORTIONS were self-propelled to begin with.

You're imagining soul particles escaping the sin-gravity well. The Engineer does the lifting.

If salvation depends on the enlightened bits drifting upward, Luce, we're all in trouble. Good thing grace has better transportation

Well Jae tells us the truth and it is all bad ... so I guess it is time to cash it all in and die and leave it all to the fundamentalists!

What if that was the plan primarily ... seems reasonable as desire is the most potent ... I regress in relief!

Large chunks of doctrine arose from twisted interpretation of Hebrew texts and selective interpretation of Christian texts from documents approved by councils based on beliefs and philosophies at the time. All the letters were written by people, mostly men, with particular interpretations of their experiences. I wonder why we had about 1950 years of conflict over interpretations of experiences and documents.

Luce NDs said:

Is it best that people don't have a clue of what I speak of if they look only for good news for their private concerns?


Thus the motive nature of Personality Disorders as soul things that come out in the night or other dark periods to give vent to illusive powers like conscience ... the range of things like PTSD, ADHD, etc. build into a high ridge or dyke like Himalaya. On one side or the other a vale that has opposing characteristics as defined by that gentleman Sam Clements Jr. that discovered the east-west divide as a rapturous location ...

It is said that there are winds there that are home bound and other of wayward nature ... but not to be discussed openly because of intimate implications of the Dan Sir ... he feeding the fires to keep up the WU Li dancers going ... backlights to serious going'son ... about midnight ... that ineffable carrier!

The great horse theory ... where hidalgo got entangled and created concerns for certainty domains ... sure tobe folly!

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There's something wonderfully human about that, Luce, and something foolish about it too. We want certainty. God often gives us dependence instead.

The issue's whether people are willing to venture beyond private concerns and listen for truths bigger than themselves.

The gospel's good news because it interrupts our favourite certainties and calls us into a reality we could never have constructed on our own

Jaebius said:

There's something wonderfully human about that, Luce, and something foolish about it too. We want certainty. God often gives us dependence instead.

The issue's whether people are willing to venture beyond private concerns and listen for truths bigger than themselves.

The gospel's good news because it interrupts our favourite certainties and calls us into a reality we could never have constructed on our own

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We want certainty ... as long as it costs us nothing ... especially those better positioned and then those lie to the relatively uninformed.

Can you see why those up there like to control the intellectual factor at their free will? One must have lots of free will enough to overwhelm the intellect ... it is just the way it is at this level of the sphere!

In ages past there was always a god that led to wars of aggression and waste of survival materials to the point of corrupting the surroundings and ruining civilization and society. There is evidence of this in the layers of earth ... fallout. Yet those with motivation to reduce the other will claim different and thus schism ...

This sort of thought can cause all kinds of disturbance in the human sphere ... even boiling in the wee kettle ... as it hangs in space. A story?

It appears that a myth is the only thing that can get through to the human intelligence that we're told is non existent because the gods destroyed such comprehension in some apocalyptic event that they cannot reverse ... a greater power of thought is required and that is out there ... in your dreams some say! Some mysterious characters supported dreams ... they are written of in myth and other literary devices that folk certainly grasp as poorly understood representations of something other than what appears! Thus we are doomed by our own mental deficiencies ... too much emotion that believe intellect is evil ... and so it goes again ...

Literary device ... something to revisit to see if there's something buried there ... mist during and emotional event ... like Moses in the peak or Adam in the garden ... being groomed ... that's like mentally cultivated because it happens when you're out of it (mind that is).

As they say: "never you mind now!" So we don't ... with barely a thought!

When you consider what the collective emotions have done it is scary so some of us search for intelligence ... just enough heart to keep ongoing ... functions ... until something conclusive occurs ...

Thus we stretch out for hope ... it has to be out there somewhere ... thus stars ... distant glimmers in mysterious realms ...

The stuff we don't know is like powerful leaders magnanimous in the take ... self destructive and don't know it ... depressing isn't it ... unless you don't think of such things. Some folk do in fits of PTSD, and other personality dissonance ... like a storm in the Eire of psyche ... dat's oule man ...

In the meantime we push on with the emotions ... some to great excess ... bringing down the aule thing ... spacey?

Luce NDs said:

Just hold to the idea as an idiom that nothing serious can be spoken of in a down to earth place without a good mythology ... a story for working it into a difficult spot ... grounded belief? Hard bread from a jar ... potters required for pottering about ... with the characters of clay tora (bull by another name)!

Cla-yo' Patras ... what fell from the great pere wasn't what we were led to believe but a great mutter in under cover ... restricted (reserved in relief) psyche?

Very complex to say least ... semi odes ... se man tae-X? In disjointed form ... put it together! 4's Kin related by nature as FOUR Points of Compass:

• Freedom of Belief
• Freedom of Speach
• Freedom of Press
• Freedom of Movement (and thus intelligence goes)
• Absent Portion ... folly (small detail)

As the great Campbell declared the power of myth cannot be overseen, overlooked, etc. Avarice just will not do what's required of you ...

Abstract this matter? One would have to be out of it ... but it happens with little understanding attached.

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Myth, Luce, is at its best when it points beyond itself to something real. Meaning detached from truth becomes confusion's other form. We can spend our lives assembling symbols and abstractions while missing the solid ground beneath our feet.

Your four freedoms's interesting because freedoms are not self-sustaining.

Grasping begins when we humbly recognize that we're clay creatures, dependent on the Potter's hands. In that light, even our confusion becomes wisdom's beginning

I have many questions and yet so many people feel they have all the answers and thus the discussion ends ...

Is this the anxiety about escaping life? Don't say it ... it could be an entity ... another word to investigate before the thing catches up with me and takes me back into the alternate of where we are now ...

Some believe we are in reality and some like me question where those people really are ...

I do believe it is time to go given the pious belief in temporal matters here ... like the truth of leaders! People do really suck things up ... without question. Have you noticed if you question ... people will tend to lead you on ... usually to the market place! Always some thing to sell ... if not of the three material items ... they wish to peddle emotions ... and they can be bounced and reciprocated in short order as you are led out on the mysterious sea that has no end.

It seems one has to observe this from the other shore to get it ... that all is incarnate ... and you can look up what that word means in numerous translations ... pseudo metaphors? In short nothing lasts ... it is hard to grasp and thus it goes on and on with all the mortal souls as they don't last as real either. Pious preachers tell me there is nothing to the psyche or the pool where thoughts are preserved ...

So there it isn't whether we like it or not ... thoughts are out there in the great beyond ... and you cannot connect ... those stoned on some powers can't get it either ... there's belief, royalty and business ... and yet no fair trade ... explain that? It is inexplicable ... except maybe because of isolation of the autonomous parts ... they are like antinomian! No name as they cannot be identified from this side of the absolute ... thus we move on into the abstract that is something else! Chaos ... yes cataracts as the aye fogs in the mist ... neigh aga Ra? Some leave the falls behind and rise ... i.e. fall for nothing ... there you find no bottom line ... even the negative is infinite to maintain balance ... particles change position from hard to lead particles ... abstract like bosons ...

Me I'm 10 years over the line according to some literature and thus sometime into that alternate time that's abstract and the best place for intelligence that is hard to accept in reality ... folk hate reality ... that's life! You only get so much and you feel ill ... when looking at what folk vote for without a thought but pure emotion and ambition and then can't undo anything ...

Imagine god and nothing residing out there beyond something ... would that be a stretch if mortals can't get above the dirt? It does entertain those materially entwined ... rather like stage, theatre and satyr ...

I try and be myself and that is alien to those in the production ...

Jaebius said:

• If God is all-powerful and all-good, why is there so much suffering in the world?
• If God is fair and loving, why are some people born into wealth, health, and opportunity while others are born into poverty, disability, or hardship?
• Why does God seem hidden?
• What happens to people who never hear about Christianity?
• Why does an all-knowing God allow people to be created if He already knows they'll reject Him or suffer eternally?
• How can miracles in the Bible be trusted?
• Why does God appear harsh or violent in some parts of the Bible?
• Why do good people suffer while bad people prosper?
• Why are there so many religions if one is true?
• Can morality exist without God?
• Why do sincere Christians disagree on major doctrines?
• Why doesn't prayer seem to work consistently?
• Why are there contradictions claimed to exist in the Bible?

Feel free to give your answers on one or more of these important questions. Source: Copilot

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1. If God is all-powerful and loves everyone, unnecessary suffering shouldn't exist. When believers argue that "God's goodness is beyond human understanding," it strips the word "good" of any meaning to us. Furthermore, the common defense that "God gave us free will" fails because a choice forced under the threat of eternal torture isn't truly free choice, it is coercion.

2. Life's hardships look like random biological and economic chance rather than a fair plan. Highly religious areas often suffer from more poverty, disease, and hardship than non-religious ones, showing that belief doesn't bring physical fairness or protection.

3. There is no clear, measurable proof that God exists. Expecting people to believe in something completely invisible and beyond nature, without any way to test or verify it, is asking for blind belief.

4. Throughout history, every culture created its own religions and gods. It is far more likely that humans simply enjoy inventing stories than that one specific group got the single true answer while millions of others were left out.

5. Creating someone knowing they will end up in eternal torment makes humans seem disposable. It relies on fear and guilt to force people to obey rather than genuine love.

6. We never see undeniable, testable miracles happen today. Believing stories of miracles written thousands of years ago requires accepting claims without proof, which is something we would never do in normal life.

7. The Bible often describes God commanding violence, punishment, and war. This reflects the harsh, ancient culture of the humans who wrote the book, rather than the actions of a loving, perfect creator.

8. Being a good person comes from human empathy and caring about others, not from believing in God. In reality, religious people aren't automatically better or more blessed, and non-religious people aren't worse.

9. Thousands of religions exist, each claiming to be the only right one. Since they contradict each other and none can prove their claim, religion mostly ends up dividing people instead of uniting them.

10. Right and wrong come from human compassion and our need to live together peacefully. We don't need a deity to know that hurting others is wrong and helping them is good.

11. Because the Bible is full of metaphors and vague text, people have to interpret it for themselves. Since everyone relies on their own feelings and interpretations, even dedicated believers end up completely disagreeing on what God is supposedly saying.

12. Prayer outcomes are no better than random chance or coincidence. Praying feels like talking to an imaginary friend or listening to your own inner thoughts.

13. The Bible was written and edited by human beings over many centuries. Because of this, it contains factual errors, failed predictions, and internal contradictions. A perfect God would have communicated a much clearer, error-free message.

There are several points here that point towards my indeterminate attitude about those more determined ... like because of the human imposition on a divine domain of emotions ... would something inevitably get reciprocated because of the great urge for powers to win? Where as many of the little people just want to have fun at as little cost to the surrounding aura as possible. Winners just don't give a damn given the rise ...

Generating a book under genuine will to win ... ... just image the potential reversals ... now to vent those sensations! Again use the abstract ... be dark and mysterious so as to make it Cush as black velvet ...

Wishing someone into hell doth give an impression of cruel intent ... especially after reviewing the activity of Inquisition. The Black Prince did a fabulous study in exposing these credentials in story about the drive of power in society. I understand that some take it as a classic study of cruelty in such institutional circles ... the sacred place of rings? How can this be reversed? Perhaps a Black Mirror ... that doesn't look back on you well!

The potential continues to an unimaginable measure where things could turn about ... because of ultimate fatigue? That far out though it would have to be mythological or legend ...

That's enough I am drained by the very thoughts ... although my enemies are unlikely to follow ...

Empathy ... now there is an alien thought in a hated tense ...

jimkenney12 said:

Large chunks of doctrine arose from twisted interpretation of Hebrew texts and selective interpretation of Christian texts from documents approved by councils based on beliefs and philosophies at the time. All the letters were written by people, mostly men, with particular interpretations of their experiences. I wonder why we had about 1950 years of conflict over interpretations of experiences and documents.

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The Bible, jim, presents a consistent picture. Humanity's fallen. God's sovereign. Salvation's by grace! CHRIST'S CENTRAL!

The conflicts arise because none of us are neutral readers. We all bring experiences, cultures and ASSUMPTIONS to the text.

When I look at debate's 1,950 years, I see imperfect people wrestling with questions that matter deeply.

That people have disagreed about the sun for centuries doesn't make me doubt the sun's existence

Jaebius said:

The Bible, jim, presents a consistent picture. Humanity's fallen. God's sovereign. Salvation's by grace! CHRIST'S CENTRAL!

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AS long as you remember that this is a statement of interpretation. It describes the lens through which you read the text, a common lens to be sure and a valid lens. Others might have different lenses.

If one says something has an essence of myth one would realize that there is some fluidity and vapor to it not just stone and statue. The layers of the fluid material are different than cast in stone laws ...

It is a hard world when we follow the law of God that way .. STONEHEART? there are numerous stories carried through cracked rocks ... imagine the abstract!

unbelievers just don't get it ------they can't help themselves ----they think that are many lens in which the Spiritual side of Scripture can be interpreted by their unbelieving worldly intellect minds ---when Scrupture says different ------

So Who's lens gives the right interpretation ---unbelievers or Jesus' lens -----

Blows My Mind ------

The Jesus lens is the right lens ---Folks ----


The Role of Jesus in Understanding Scripture

Topical Encyclopedia
The role of Jesus in understanding Scripture is central to Christian theology and exegesis. Jesus Christ, as the incarnate Word of God, provides the ultimate revelation and fulfillment of the Scriptures. His life, teachings, death, and resurrection are the lens through which the entirety of the Bible is interpreted and understood.

Jesus as the Fulfillment of Scripture

Jesus Himself declared that He came not to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). This fulfillment is not merely in the sense of completing predictions but in embodying the very essence and purpose of the Scriptures. The Old Testament, with its laws, prophecies, and narratives, finds its ultimate meaning in Christ. As the promised Messiah, Jesus fulfills the covenantal promises made to Abraham, David, and the people of Israel.

Jesus' Teaching and Interpretation of Scripture

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus is depicted as a master teacher who interprets Scripture with authority. In the Sermon on the Mount, He expounds on the Law, revealing its deeper spiritual intent (Matthew 5-7). His parables and teachings often illuminate the kingdom of God, providing insights into the nature of God's will and the ethical demands of discipleship.

In Luke 24:27 , after His resurrection, Jesus explains to the disciples on the road to Emmaus how all the Scriptures point to Him: "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself." This passage underscores the Christocentric nature of biblical interpretation, where Jesus is the key to unlocking the meaning of the entire biblical narrative.

Jesus as the Living Word

The Gospel of John presents Jesus as the Logos, the divine Word made flesh (John 1:1, 14). This theological assertion emphasizes that Jesus is not only the messenger of God's truth but the embodiment of that truth. As the living Word, Jesus reveals God's character, purposes, and redemptive plan in a way that written words alone cannot fully convey.

The Apostolic Witness and Jesus' Role in Scripture

The apostles, inspired by the Holy Spirit, continued Jesus' mission by proclaiming His life, death, and resurrection as the fulfillment of God's redemptive plan. The New Testament writings, particularly the epistles, reflect this understanding, interpreting the Old Testament in light of Christ's work. For instance, the Apostle Paul frequently cites the Hebrew Scriptures to demonstrate how they testify to Jesus as the Messiah (Romans 1:2-4).

Jesus and the Authority of Scripture

Jesus affirmed the authority of Scripture, often quoting it in His teachings and confrontations with religious leaders. In Matthew 4:4 , during His temptation in the wilderness, Jesus responds to Satan by quoting Deuteronomy: "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" This reliance on Scripture underscores its divine authority and sufficiency.


The Holy Spirit and the Role of Jesus in Understanding Scripture

Jesus promised the coming of the Holy Spirit, who would guide believers into all truth (John 16:13).

The Spirit's role is to illuminate the Scriptures,

helping believers understand and apply them in light of Christ's teachings
and redemptive work.

This ongoing work of the Spirit ensures that Jesus remains central in the interpretation and application of Scripture throughout the life of the Church.

In summary, Jesus' role in understanding Scripture is foundational. He is the fulfillment, the interpreter, the living Word, and the authority behind the biblical text.

Through His life and teachings, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus continues to reveal the depths of God's Word to His followers.